Poignant play
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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`Maati' looked into the farmers' issues driving home the self-sustainability point.
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INSPIRED BY REALITY `Maati' presented the ills of globalisation.
The World Theatre Day was celebrated in a befitting manner in Bhubaneswar with presentation of the play Maati (the mother earth) at Rabindra Mandap auditorium by Orissa's well-known professional theatre troupe Natya Chetana in association with Orissa Natya Sangh, a confederation of the amateur theatre associations of Orissa. The 95-minute play, scripted and directed by Natya Chetana founder-director Subodh Patnaik, was inspired by media reports on the farmers' resolution of committing mass suicide in Orissa's Kalahandi district. Natya Chetana team rushed to the region and stayed withsuch farmers' families to have a feel of the grassroot reality behind the declaration of a tragic decision and after their return to Natya Gram (the theatre village of the institution near Bhubaneswar the play was conceptualised and developed.
The play portrays the plight of the villagers after a foreigner arrives in their village and pleads for hybrid farming on the plea of getting better harvest. He has the backing of the politicians and bureaucrats who have vested interest in the deal. He also fixes a deal with the traders of hybrid technology, fertiliser and pesticides. The nexus goes on and also the sowing dreams for the innocent tribals in an attempt to trap them in the so-called developmental process. A farmer's family is excited. The daughter dreams her early marriage with her beloved. But soon the farmers encounter a major setback as the marketing is being controlled by the buyers. The government sheds crocodile tears for them. Near starved and with no signs of relief, young boys get into the trap of militancy. The farmer attempts to commit suicide while his wife gives him a hope to live on. But she is killed in police firing. Still the father and daughter live on with a hope as the villagers as they return to their age-old wisdom and farming practice. The story ends with a positive note that the Mother Earth has a self-sustainable system to save its children. Maati was staged in several towns of the state during Natya Chetana's month-long trip preceding the world theatre day celebrations in Bhubaneswar to make people aware of the dangers of globalisation.
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